Door
After Finding a gorgeous piece of Spalted Maple I kept my mind open looking for the right way to put it into a project. I received the copper from a friend and that galvanized the concept. With Samples in hand I went to the lumber store and found some gorgeous mahogany to round out the project. The door is 32″ wide which makes it perfect for use as a barn door in front of a standard 30″ bedroom opening.
This door was built with a solid wood frame, veneered panels and a sealed glass unit. The sealed glass unit fills the entire frame which lends this door a good heft. The gorgeous ebony veneer was saved from a previous project and had only 1/4″ of extra length. It is always satisfying to use of remnants so efficiently and create something so beautiful out of them.
This set of French doors was installed in a home in Invermere which had lots of Fir already in the colour scheem. The gorgeous Vertical Grain Fir has wonderfully tight and straight grain which lends a contemporary aesthetic to the mountain home. The transom allows for more light into the home and has muntins to match the glazing in the rest of the home.
Some good friends of mine, Les and Dana asked for a walut door with a live edge slab down the middle. We hunted for a little while and found a gem of a board at just the right width. There is a sealed glas unit filling the full size of the frame and the walnut slab was resawn and installed on both sides of the glass. This door has become a touchstone on their street and many of their neighbors dropped by to ask about it after installation. Its great when a customer has a creative vision for their home and want to see it through.
As part of a major renovation of the Legacy Centre in Medicine Hat a set of seven french doors and four singles was built to give the building an open feel. These doors incorporated a lot of glass in the design and were built to a custom height of 84″.
In 2011 my wife went to Peru to work on a Forestry/Development project. While visiting I had little to do during the day while she was at work, luckily for me one of her co-worker’s husbands was a woodworker who was building some entry doors for a fair trade clothing workshop. A week in a Peruvian wood shop turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip for me. Working through the language barrier with hand gestures and pointing at machines and tools was entertaining for both me and Alex. This was the first full size doors I’d ever built and I found it a really satisfying as a project and how the door helped create a new space and a fresh start for the members of the clothing workshop.
Furniture
In terms of cottage furniture, nothing is more iconic than the canoe bookshelf. This one is built fron a salvaged and refurbished fibreglass canoe. The vibrant cherry red is a wonderful splash of color in any room.
This Lazy Suzan was made using Quarter Sawn Bubinga, chosen because of the high amount of chatoyance which makes the wood shimmer as it rotates. The maple leaf and fan inlays are Quarter Sawn Maple which was sand shaded and the perimeter banding is Tulipwood. The lazy Suzan is perfectly sized for a smaller service like tea or dessert.
The top of this beautiful coffee table is a slab from a root burl of an Arbutus tree. The small occlusion along the bottom edge had rocks in it when I originally found it and there was gnarly bark and mud to be found everywhere. Arbutus is native to the Pacific North-west and Vancouver Island.
This curio cabinet is made with a pair of bookmatched doors to display the stunning Redwood panels. The continuous grain running across the drwer fronts is hardly broken by the drawer dividers. There are small details to be found throughout this cabinet, such as customized bullet catches to hold the doors, continuous grain across the drawer bottoms, matched spalted maple drawer sides, and a secret sixth drawer awaits the curious.
A very fun piece as each log was picked for its purpose and none of the mortises and tenons are the same. Each joint was crafted to best preserve the strength of the adjoining members.
The tops for these coffee tables were sustainably harvested in Kananaskis years ago. There are two tables in the series, one with a base entirely made of walnut, the other is a mix of walnut and spruce from the same tree as the tabletop. top of this beautiful coffee table is a slab from a root burl of an Arbutus tree. The small occlusion along the bottom edge had rocks in it when I originally found it and there was gnarly bark and mud to be found everywhere. Arbutus is native to the Pacific North-west and Vancouver Island.
This curio cabinet is made with a pair of bookmatched doors to display the stunning Redwood panels. The continuous grain running across the drwer fronts is hardly broken by the drawer dividers. There are small details to be found throughout this cabinet, such as customized bullet catches to hold the doors, continuous grain across the drawer bottoms, matched spalted maple drawer sides, and a secret sixth drawer awaits the curious.
This fossilized wood came from near Drumheller, AB. It is from the Horseshoe Canyon Formation in the Late Cretaceous; and is approximately 72 million years old. It is likely from a tree similar to today’s Redwoods.
This entry bench has a slight asian feel; The benchtop slants down towards the front slightly to make it more comfortable to tie and untie shoes.
This cabinet is designed for hard liquor, though a wine rack could easily be added.
This cabinet is designed for hard liquor, though a wine rack could easily be added.
This Maloof inspired sculpted rocker is a wonderfull marriage of beauty and comfort. The sloped arms, scooped headrest and long sweeping rockers all work together and draw the eye over every joint, surface and detail. The sculpted seat cradels, the curved spindles support, and the gentle rocking motion lets you drift into total relaxation. This is a prime example of functional furniture bringing beauty and art into the home.
Les and Dana are great clients. They get excited about trying new things and are open to suggestions. We were chatting about this design and wanting to mix stone with wood for their new coffee table. Adding in the counterweight satisfies a practical need while creating some interesting asymetry.
While traveling in Africa, I was taken aback by the beauty of the Acacia trees. These gorgeous trees that generally stand alone and provide shade and food for many of the species in the Savannah are often beautifully photographed, silhouetted by the sunset. Years later, while struggling to design a desk, I saw a carved piercing done by a friend and instantly envisioned this piece in my mind. The struggle had been to find a way to express the beauty in trees-both while living and when used to make furniture-and this is what I hope the piece has captured.
